A review of literature in modeling approaches for sustainable development

Abstract

Modeling & Simulation (M&S) studies have been widely used in industry to gain insights into existing or proposed systems of interest. The majority of these studies focus on productivity-related measures to evaluate system' performance. However, this predominant focus on productivity may need to change since sustainability has become an increasingly important consideration in managerial discourse on organizational development. In this paper, the authors review and argue for a hybrid/mixed method approach towards modeling for sustainability; they present a review of literature with the aim of providing a synthesized view of M&S approaches which have previously been used to model sustainability; this study also explores the specific characteristics of sustainability in order to investigate the challenges in developing models for sustainability and to analyze what seems to be a holy grail for modelers.

An investigation into modeling and simulation approaches for sustainable operations management

“…This rise could be attributed to the increasing focus on sustainable development in industries and which may have contributed to scholarly studies on this topic. However, despite this recent increase our findings have shown that there is a dearth of studies on the application of M&S in addressing the TBL and challenges still remain in developing, implementing and validating models [27,28]. Developing models that respond to these complexities is not a trivial task for modelers [29,30] since they require to ensure that the models are, (a) applicable to the real world, (b) consider the appropriate levels of details [31], and (c) consider all three sustainable development pillars (TBL) in their analyses [32].…”

A hybrid agent-based and Discrete Event Simulation approach for sustainable strategic planning and simulation analytics

“…However, despite this need there is only a small number of simulation systems that address aspects of the complex interplay of economic, environmental and social values. A review of contemporary M&S studies have also shown an imbalance in the treatment of economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainability, for example very few studies incorporate all three aspects (Fakhimi et al 2013). The scarcity of literature and empirical models in this field, arguably, shows that challenges still remain in implementation and validation of such models particularly in the healthcare sector.…”

“…ABMS, DES and System Dynamics (SD) are the three most applied M&S techniques for sustainabilityrelated analysis, according to a review conducted by Fakhimi et al (2013) and included journal and conference papers that appear in the ISI Web of Science® from 1970-2012. Each of these techniques have unique as well as common underlying theoretical and methodological foundations (Mustafee, Katsaliaki, and Taylor 2010).…”

“…Therefore, arguably, ABMS could help modelers to develop models for social-environmental systems (Hare and Deadman 2004). However, literature reviewed for the purpose of this research indicates that there is a little practical support for applying ABMS techniques and how to implement them for such purposes (Fakhimi et al 2013).…”

Simulation for sustainable health care

“…A cross-industry review of literature on 'modelling for sustainability' suggests that there has been an unequal treatment of economic, social and the environmental factors in studies employing computer simulation (Fakhimi et al, 2013). For example, modelling and simulation studies in non-healthcare topics such as sustainable manufacturing and green supply chain have mostly neglected the social factors pertaining to sustainability.…”